“Please,” Keira said to Jeremy, trying not to beg. “I’ll get in trouble.”
Tommy stepped closer. “Maybe we should get out of here, Jer. I need to get some food, anyway.”
“I think we should stay. It’s not like I’m gonna set the scarves on fire or anything.”
The guys leaned in on either side of Keira. She felt trapped.
“Seriously, man, I gotta get something to eat or I’m gonna starve.” Tommy reached over Keira and pushed Jeremy’s shoulder playfully.
“Watch the jacket, man!” Jeremy grabbed Tommy’s wrist, looking genuinely angry.
Keira stood up, completely abandoning the piano. All she wanted was to get away from the two guys. Before she could get around them, Tommy stepped to the side to slip out of Jeremy’s grip and tripped over the legs of the piano bench. His fall pulled Jeremy into Keira, knocking her against the piano. The glowing cherry of his cigarette pressed against the arm of her shirt.
By the time he’d righted himself and pulled the cigarette away, it had burned through her cotton shirt. With her heart tapping out a panicked staccato, Keira looked at the skin beneath it. There was a small, circular indentation in her arm, where the smoldering tobacco had pressed against her skin, but there was no burn. No blister. Nothing.
How can that be?
The guys backed away from the piano.
“You pushed me into her!”
“What? You were the one holding on to me!”
“You grabbed me first! And anyway, she’s not hurt!” Jeremy looked at Keira. “You’re not hurt, right? I mean, you’re not crying or anything.”
“I’m fine. Could you leave now?” The words were sharp as pins, and Jeremy’s eyes narrowed.
“Keira! Are you okay?” Susan shouldered her way between the two guys. “Just get out of here!” She spat the words at Jeremy as she brushed past.
“Sorry, Keira. I’ll make it up to you, okay?” Jeremy glanced over his shoulder apologetically as he and Tommy scrambled for the exit.
“Did he burn you?” Susan tugged at Keira’s arm, her dark eyes widening when she saw the ruined sleeve. “Oh, my God.”
“No, it’s okay. It just got . . . ” She was going to say, It just got my shirt, but that wasn’t true. That cigarette had ground against her like an overeager sophomore. Only, it hadn’t burned her. Thinking about it made her hands shake. “I’m fine, I guess.”
“Jesus. You are so lucky. I wish Tommy would quit hanging out with Jeremy. He’s such an—” Susan’s gaze snapped to the side.
Keira heard the squeak of leather shoes against the tile floor. With his comb-over flapping like an errant wing, Mr. Seever scurried up to them.
“What happened? Do you know those boys who just ran out of my store?” he demanded.
Keira crossed her arms to hide the hole in her shirt, then leaned against the piano for support. The white lacquer might be ugly, but it still made her feel better to be touching it.
“No. I mean . . . yes, we go to school together, but—”
Mr. Seever interrupted her. “I told you when you were hired that it would be unacceptable for your friends to come and ‘hang out’ with you while you were working.”
“They’re not my friends!” Keira protested. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Susan shifting nervously. She looked like she couldn’t decide if she was supposed to say something or shut up.
Keira shook her head at Susan. There was no reason for her to get in trouble too.
Apparently, Susan disagreed.
“They’re my friends, Mr. Seever.”
Mr. Seever turned and arched an eyebrow at Susan. “There’s no need to try to cover for Keira, Miss Kim. I saw those boys by the piano. I heard the music stop.”
He pursed his lips. “And all this after we had that unfortunate incident with the customer’s request last week. Having you here is taking up far too much of my attention. Clearly, I should have hired a professional musician for this job.”
Keira’s insides felt too light beneath her skin. She lifted her chin. “Are you firing me?”
Mr. Seever sighed. “I’m sorry, but it’s just proving too disruptive to the shoppers.”
“But it wasn’t her fault!” Susan insisted.
“Ms. Kim. I appreciate your loyalty to your friend here, but I think you’ll find that—in this situation—it is misplaced. I would hate to have to fire both of you.”
Keira swallowed her retort—that he had a lot of nerve talking about loyalty after he’d just fired someone who hadn’t done anything wrong. But it wouldn’t do her any good to say it, and she was not going to get Susan fired. Keira bit the inside of her cheek and waited silently until he was finished.
“Your check for this week is in the office.” Mr. Seever cleared his throat. “It’ll be your last one.” He turned to Susan. “Don’t you have displays to dust?”
Susan started to say something, then snapped her mouth shut.